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Mutual funds and real estate investment trusts are methods investors can use to bet on a rebound in the real estate sector, Jeff Cox writes in a CNBC commentary. "I think there are some positive or at least relatively positive signs in the housing market right now," said David Twibell, president of wealth management at Colorado Capital Bank. "Put them all together, you may be seeing some stabilization."

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Brixmor Property Group benefited by coming to market as a pure play REIT before other REITs began to adopt this strategy, says CEO Michael Carroll. The streamlining effort "put us in a position where investors saw us in a place where all our peers are trying to reach -- a streamlined, straightforward, pure-play company," he said.

Regional banks are likely to be hardest hit by the collapse of the commercial real estate market. Bigger banks are better diversified to absorb troubled commercial real estate loans. "For the smaller banks, the primary revenue generator is going to be the lending side of the business. That's still a real mess out there. Particularly relating to commercial real estate, it's getting worse, not better," said David Twibell, president of wealth management at Colorado Capital Bank.

The commercial real estate market will miss the brunt of ongoing pain expected in the U.S. economy over the next few months. That was the consensus of economists speaking at the National Association of Real Estate Editors' 42nd annual real estate journalism conference in Dallas last week. James Gaines, research economist for the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, expects the federal government to be forced to bail out banks and other financial institutions to avoid insolvency due to involvement in commercial debt obligations, mortgage-backed securities and mortgage-backed paper.

Talks between New York's MTA and Hudson Yards developer Tishman Speyer have "reached an impasse," according to a MTA statement released Thursday. Tishman Speyer won a bidding war to pay over $1 billion, for a 99-year lease, for development rights on either side of 11th Avenue between 30th and 33rd streets.

Billionaire investor Sam Zell expects the U.S. housing market to show signs of a recovery in the spring, helping the U.S. economy avoid a recession. "Obviously what we have going on is an attempt to create a self-fulfilling prophecy," Zell said in a CNBC interview. Zell said he expects housing inventory to clear out, giving a boost to the sector.